User talk:Merlewine

Autobiography
hello. welcome to Wikipedia. With regards to your recent contributions, you might benefit from reading our policy on autobiography, verifiability and neutrality. Since you asked on the talk page why one of them had been tagged for cleanup I shall attempt to explain : The glowing/informal/chatty tone may be appropriate for promotional materials, but it jars in a serious encyclopedia. For example, phrasing such as "it was clear that something magical was happening in this southeast Michigan college town" and "When we look back at the roster of performers at those first two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals, it is hard to imagine that all of this great blues talent managed to converge in one spot, blues greats" is promotional verbiage and will be cut when someone gets round to editing it (which will be a major task). Also, have you published any of this stuff previously before? Perhaps it would be better for you to put this up somewhere online elsewhere, and we can write a new article using that as a reference. Morwen - Talk 15:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Merlewine, I note that your user page is empty. If you have an official autobiography you'd like to place there, as long as the copyright is under your control, that can all be posted there to your own personal satisfaction. Additionally, it will provide a friendly face to fellow editors working on the same articles as you. Please see User page for more information. --Dhartung | Talk 08:32, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Please note my prior suggestion. You are free to put up your own puff-piece on your own User page, which is still empty. But you can't just replace our article with your text. As previously noted, you are not an objective party, so it is highly inappropriate. As for continuing to try to replace our article with your text, ownership of articles is against Wikipedia policy, all the more so for article subjects. --Dhartung | Talk 23:30, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Ann Arbor Blues Festival
Even though you are the author of the websites article, Wikipedia only accepts original material, or material in the public domain (with a few other exceptions). I would nominate the page for deletion outright, especially considering that the tone is very favorable for a encyclopedia article (which is supposed to be neutral). But I want to offer you some time to clean it up first. If you need any help, leave me a message on my talk page.--Esprit15d 18:48, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Michael Erlewine
First, I want to re-iterate what was said above on this page. This is not a neutral description, for example referring to "Erlewine’s genius" and as the "formative and leading light". If you want to add information to the article, you should do it using plain, non-flowery sentences and with reliable sources. Also keep in mind that the article needs to focus on the notable encyclopedic information. An article on Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, does not contain information about him watercolor painting or something; two-thirds of it is about the presidency, five-sixths (total) is about his political life, the section on his personal life is relatively short. If you have a total rewrite you can propose it on the talk page, but it is not going to gain any headway if it is like the previous revisions you made. Note that this is not "your" article; it is an article in an encyclopedia of human knowledge. See other articles for examples of how an encyclopedia reads. —Centrx→talk &bull; 05:24, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Not sure if this is what I need to do. To begin with, I was surprised to find myself even listed, and then more surprised when facts were incomplete, not to mention major facts missing. Also, what is there is poorly written. Let me give you an example:

The line “He started a company that sold astrology software.”

This is supposed to sum up over 20 years of work, when the facts are that I was it was the first astrological software company, and one of the two oldest software companies on the Internet, the other being Microsoft. Second, I was the first person to write astrological software and make it available to microcomputer users. And so on.

I admit to not understanding the etiquette for Wikipedia, and initially just tried to correct what I felt was a misrepresentation of my own career, of which I have had three different ones. Next, I tried to write something and that was removed. I had another person, a peer in my field and a recognized author write something on me and that was also removed.

And then I find that I am blocked and don’t really know how to undo that.

You have my attention. I would like to be unblocked and feel I understand more about what you are looking for in articles. I would like to try again, but I still want my own bio corrected. I can suggest writers, who are signed up on Wikipedia, and can supply footnotes or fact-checks for all suggestions.

What is the next step, please?

Michael Erlewine


 * It may be best to propose all changes on the talk page and not make any edits yourself. —Centrx→talk &bull; 19:04, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

How do I upload an image of the BLOCK. I have the image, but do not know how to upload it.
 * No need to. --  Netsnipe  ►  01:51, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

How to Add to My Biography
I am taking Wikipedia's advice to present changes to my biography here in the User Talk page. My question is how to do this? Would you like a list of facts? Would you like the facts in sentences or paragraphs.

Please help me understand how to approach this?

Thanks,

Michael Erlewine

Note
Talk:Michael Erlewine is used for discussing your biography, while this page User talk:Merlewine is used for communicating with you regarding your work as a Wikipedia editor. Please do not replace one with the other. As for asking why you're still blocked, you were blocked for 24 hours after violating the Sock puppetry policy for using multiple accounts. --  Netsnipe  ►  12:12, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

<>
 * I've unblocked you. What's happening is that every time User:TenzinNyima (talk· contribs), a banned account, tries to edit anything on Wikipedia, your IP address is autoblocked for 24 hours. --  Netsnipe  ►  14:08, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Unblock Comments:

Tenzin Nyima is on the same IP address as I am. He no longer is even around, and was just trying to help me set my biography straight. We need to free up that IP Adreess number, so that I can edit pages, without immediately being blocked, please.

Thanks, Michael Erlewine

Prime Movers photo
I don't know what your block status is, but once you are able to resolve that, it would be helpful if you could annotate Image:LivingEnd.gif as to who is who. --Dhartung | Talk 05:26, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

To Dhartung:

Prime Movers Photo. 1966 at the Living End. Players are Michael Erlewine (lead singer, amplified harmonica) far left, Dan Erlewine (lead guitar) at lower front right, Robert Sheff (keyboards, Jack Dawson (bass) second from right, Iggy Pop (drums) thrid from left (at back), and Jerry (rhythm guitar) third from right.

We need to expand this article. What can I do to help. I have other photos, as well.